Healing

Healing by magick ys a tricky bufinesf, but when yt works yt boofts the life force of a living thyng. Yt ys generally better to rely upon potions or the attentions of a prieft, yet those sufficiently skilled may have enough control to ufe yt succesffully.

Order Rings - The Venerable Council of Seers

At a little, crowded shop in Genua, complete with stuffed Crocodile and wolf skull, a little known Shadows Wizard, Sadel Noctus, has set up a magic trading business:

>look

An old-style wizard's workroom, cloaked in shadow and gloom, with vague rattling sounds and occasional scrabblings emerging from obscured crevices. What meagre light there is emanates from the flickering flames of the regulation dribbly candles, wax as black as an overcast midnight. Various liquids bubble through an impressive amount of twisty glass tubing, and spell books are strewn carefully over the available surfaces. While Hexing students can perform amazing feats of thaumic prowess, somehow they lack the aura present in this room.

There is one obvious exit: north.

Sadel Noctus is standing here.

A stuffed alligator and a wolf skull are hanging from the ceiling.

>l alligator, skull

The traditional stuffed alligator. What wizardly workshop would be complete without one?

This is a fresh skull of a wolf.

Among the things he sells, one at a time, are nice jewelled rings, 8 of which are highly symbolic of the different orders of Wizardry.

I am trying to get my greedy hands on the eight rings, like a cheap discworld Sauron. Up to now, I only have two of them: my own Order's, and the Seer's ring, which looks like this:

> look scholar's ring

A ring of octiron has been surmounted by a thin slice of emerald, over which have been layered strips of ivory, to create the impression of a weighty, green-covered tome. Inset into the ivory are thin traceries of silver, crawling like writing in an unknown language. Over the writing, golden letters have been set in a recognisable pattern.

Etched in lines of glowing octarine: "Addverendus Haruspex"

It appears to have something written on it.

It is in excellent condition.

>read scholar's ring

You read the scholar's ring:

The Venerable Council of Seers

Effermhor’s Hypersonic Assault

What's it called? Effermhor’s Hypersonic Assault (in short, EHA)

What does it do? Effermhor's is one of the three (you could include Pragi's Lost Gaze too, but this last one is very seldom used) main room offensive spells, all three quite similar in their form and their effects, and the other two being Pragi's Fiery Gaze (the most popular) and G'flott's Olfactory Nightmare. Effermhor's creates a blast of pure sonic power that hurts in varying degrees all creatures with ears in the inmediate surroundings of the caster.

It used to be a tiny bit faster then PFG, but its main advantage (the fact that it affects trolls easier) and disadvantage (less accesible components) are still the same. Damage may be in a similar range to Pragi's, although I have de subjective feeling (maybe developed when it was faster to cast, or because it affects trolls) that it does slighty more damage.

Where is it? Like most spells, at the Unseen University Library, and more specifically, in the Invoakatyons in thee Mysterie of Wynd grimoire, the easiest to get to, and nearest to the the entrance door.

What does it require? A jar of mandrake roots (not consumed, except in terrible failiures) and a beeswax candle (consumed).

What skills do I need? Evoking, Channeling, Binding, Dancing, Air

Has it worked? A correct output should be something like this:

You prepare to cast Effermhor's Hypersonic Assault.
You check the best-before date and tap the top of the jar of mandrake roots, sensing their potential.
You squish the candle into two lumps and stick a lump in each ear.
You gingerly open the jar and mutter a quick oath of binding on the roots.
Swirling one finger in the air above the jar, you form a small cyclone.
The conical cyclone begins to amplify the screaming of the mandrake roots.
The cyclone swirls around you.
The sound (see notes).

The cyclone dissipates into the atmosphere and the sound fades away

Help Information:

Effermhor's Hypersonic Assault - an extremely loud noise.

Effermhor's Hypersonic Assault is a first order offensive spell that creates a blast of raw sound that will cause extreme pain to anything in the vicinity that has ears.

Notes: the damage caused by the spell is unsual in that it is easily predictible, as in the other room spells, from the outputs of the casting (although not as a 'precise' amount of hps taken away from your oponent, but as a 'percentage' of the damage done as related to the victim's maximum amount of hps). Depending on the damage the sound:

grates the target's nerves (0-15%)

hurts their ears considerably (15-35%)

makes their heads shudder painfully (35-55%)

causes their eardrums to burst (55-75%)

makes blood ooze from the ears and nostrils (75-90%)

causes bones in their bodies to explode (+90%)

Magical Items - The Top Hat

At the Magic Emporium and a few places, a wizard may purchase a black top hat. Even though it isn't the kind of hat a wizard would like to wear, it certainly has a great deal of potenciality for sorcery, conjuring and general pulling-things-out-of the top hat. You may relish these effects in themselves, or in a rather more materialistic way, employ the top hat as an instrument for taskmastering...
First of all, let us take a look at the object itself:

>look top hat

This is a rather stylish black top hat. There does, however, seem to be a little more to it.
In softly glowing letters, you make out the message "Fore aye liste of ytems that canne be prodused fromme thyse hatte, juste 'list items'".
It is in excellent condition.

>list items

You can attempt to pull the following items from the hat:

Hankie - a silk handkerchief

Ball - a billiard ball

Flags - the flags of all nations

Dove - a white dove

Rabbit - a pink rabbit

We proceed in the attempt to pull things out of the hat. It isn't an easy task. With my current bonuses (c. 250 in almost all the required skills), I only succeed with the two first options: hankies (easily) and billiard balls (a bit harder). The outputs are as follows:

>pull hankie from top hat

You start to prepare yourself for the immense task ahead.
You flex your fingers over the hat and try to conjure up an image in your mind.
You picture a white silk handkerchief.
You wave your hands vigorously over the hat before delving deep in, then slowly removing your hand to reveal...
...an exquisitely embroidered white silk handkerchief.
You proceed to mop your brow with the hankie before disposing of it back in the top hat.

>pull ball from top hat
You start to prepare yourself for the immense task ahead.
You flex your fingers over the hat and try to conjure up an image in your mind.
You picture a billiard ball.
You wave your hands vigorously over the hat before delving deep in, then slowly removing your hand to reveal...
...a truly magnificent ivory billiard ball.
You throw the ball between your hands before hurling it high into the air and stylishly catching it again in the hat.

Each attemp to pull something out of the top hat costs around 30 gps. Even though there's magic involved, though, pulling things releases no thaums at all, and so may be attempted without problems even inside the Libraries (as an anecdote, I found out that even if this little magic doesn't attract the 'Thyngs', some sorts of music performing do, and aren't allowed inside those builings...). Attempts -successful of otherwise- will very quickly consume all your guild points...

Failiures can be quite unconfortable. The failiure lines you get may be of two kinds:

-In the 3rd output line: 'You suddenly stare with dismay at your fingers'.

-In the 5th output line: '...absolutely nothing!'

The effects are varied. After failing, any (or all) of these things may happen:

1) Nothing

2) Hallucinations, similar to the ones you get from eating certain mushrooms (and mushroom pizza) or from a failed Scrying: Some yellow electric whelks leap out from behind you and run around in ever decreasing circles. / Some yellow electric whelks enter and do cartwheels. / Some green floppy hats (which seem to be grinning at you) enter and clean out your ears and nostrils with a small vole. / Some green winged bananas run in singing nursery rhymes and sit down to play a game of Cripple Mr Onion. After a while, they stop and you get the closing message. "Everything looks a lot less interesting now".

3) Hair loss: You reach up to smooth your hair, and a large chunk of hair comes out. Some time later, you will receive a closing message: "Ahhhh. Your hair seems to have stopped falling out so prematurely."

4) Falling asleep: You feel very sleepy. (shortly followed by falling unconscious. The line is ‘You can't keep your eyes open anymore. You go to sleep.’). While on, you can't do anything at all, like when you contemplate. Any action attemp will be responded with a "You are unconscious. You can't do anything". You spend some time dreaming (You dream of chasing a giant carrot through a field of blue daffodils. / You dream of chasing a small hedgehog through a field of waving sheep. / You dream of chasing a small hedgehog through a field of people wearing straw hats. / You dream of chasing a giant carrot through a field of cows standing upright. / You dream of chasing a large herring through a field of corn with large, pink ears. / etc...), and this finishes with: ‘You wake up feeling refreshed.’

5) Outbursts of fear, equivalent to certain priestly rituals: A feeling of fear and panic begins to overcome you. The feeling of panic increases. You see something moving in the shadows. Your heart begins to beat faster, and you break out in a cold sweat. You're certain someone is sneaking up behind you. You hear a noise behind you and nearly jump out of your skin. The hairs on your neck suddenly stand up for no apparent reason.Your feet run away with you!. After some paranoia and room displacement, "You finally calm down".

What skills the top hat exactly tms is still a subject open to debate (and research...). My personal experience points in four directions (not in this order):

-Conjuring (by far, the most numerous tms you're likely to get come from here)
-Charming
-Binding
-Enchanting (these last two extremely rare; I might have gotten 1 tm of each in all the time I've been using the top hat).

It only remains to commend this curious piece of headwear, which has a great utility from my point of view specially out of Hoodwinker territory (being a Circle, I've got most of the Conjuring I needed for spells like MMM or TIG thanks to the top hat).

Evoking

Evoking means to draw forth the magickal properties of an object. A subtle method, yt ys important for wyzards as yt ys the major diagnoftic skill yn probing thyngs magickal.

Books - Ye Booke of Polymorphe

Before I start rambling on the last of the magical grimoires that, for the moment, are accesible in the game, I remit all people interested in the spell Crondor's Fabulous Detection to my previous entry on the said spell, as I think a change has been implemented in it of late: a gold ring is now required too as a component. I still haven't tested it, but the output of spellcheck now certainly mentions it as a 'component':

The spell "Crondor's Fabulous Detection" is a miscellaneous spell requiring a gold ring and a staff.
For stage one using the staff skill, you would most certainly succeed.
For stage two using the gold skill, you would most certainly succeed.
For stage three using the turning skill, you would most certainly succeed.
You complete checking the stages in the casting for Crondor's Fabulous Detection.

And now, back to sorcerous books. 'Ye Booke of Polymorphe' appropiately honours its subject-matter by having many changing forms, alternating between them from time to time. When in the room with the book, you'll get from time to time a line that says:
'The book is so bored that it decides to change its shape slightly'.
After which looking at it will give another new description.
The changes are of two classes: some are specific to this grimoire (and the ones I've been able to find are provided below); others are borrowed from the other spell books in the game (of these, I've seen it addopt the forms of Thee Dyscyplyne of thee Stoane, of the Fire tome and of the 'Occult Primer' guide, but I imagine it can alternate through all of them...).

A closed chitin-covered brochure is on the floor.

This is a small black brochure. Its cover seems to be made of a giant insect's exoskeleton.

Small octarine sparks run to and fro across the black surface of the brochure.

or

A closed furry book is on the floor.

This book is covered with soft brown fur and equipped with several sharp-looking boney thingies. If it grows some more fur, claws and fangs, you wouldn't let your pet cat near it.

Octarine sparks play in the fur that covers the book.

or

A closed quivering tome is on the floor.

This tome seems to live its own life: it shivers, quivers and tries to look completely independent of you, this room, and the rest of the world.

A single octarine spark travels across the surface of the book in an independent manner having as much fun as it can.

or

A closed weird dusty grimoire is on the floor.

This is a dusty grimoire with a pair of eyes bulging on its surface. The eyes do their best to watch your every move.

Pure octarine radiance pulses menacingly in the pitch black pupils of the book's eyes.

or

A closed magic tome is on the floor.

This book is an old, leather-bound tome with some strange designs on the front.

Octarine seeps from between the covers.

or

A closed friendly noisy book is on the floor.

This book doesn't want to lie where it should be. Instead, it tries to nuzzle you affectionately and says woof and arrf every now and then. Perhaps you can call it Fido.

On the surface of the book, two octarine dots are busy chasing each other.

or

A closed huge leather-bound tome is on the floor.

This huge tome is bound in leather that looks and feels suspiciously close to hardened human skin.

Fingerprint-like patterns on the cover glow faintly with octarine.

Book contents:

2 - Booch’s Extremal Polymorphism

3 – Stacklady’s Morphic Resonator

4 – Yordon’s Extremal Extension

Endorphin’s Floating Friend

What's it called? Endorphin’s Floating Friend (in short, EFF)

What does it do? Endorphin's is the basic and main wizardly protection and defensive spell (usually complemented, as a backup, by a TPA Shield, a Troll-skin and, in some cases, the GRG Spell Skeleton Warrior). It consists on a floating shield that will try to stop hits against you with a varying degree of success (more bonuses, less hits pass through it). In theory, at good shield control, it should cover up 100% of hits. But its limitations are obvious: some hits (specially when fighting many people) pass it; while using it, you cannot retort to physical defenses and, worst of all, it gets knocked down of orbit (usually, with specials, although unarmed hits from tough creatures, like grlfx or vampires also bring them clashing down very fast). After that, a wizard usually has to run some 2 or 3 rooms away carrying the shield to re-float it, hoping his other defenses will protect him in the meantime.

Because of its great importance for wizards, this is a spell that has been thoroughly researched. Sined's page has a table with the recommended relations of magic.spells.defensive bonuses and shield sizes. As for Sekiri's, it gives some more information about the skills, and that wizard's own research, which might not be totally outdated.

Where is it? The magical book in which it hides is the Introeductyon too thee Strukture of thee Multyverss, at the Unseen University Library.

What does it require? A shield. Try to get the right one for your bonuses, as calculated in the tables previously mentioned, or it won't protect you much at all.

What skills do I need? Evoking, Animating, Binding

Has it worked? Successful output renders the following lines:

You prepare to cast Endorphin's Floating Friend.
You clasp the xxx shield protectively.
You hold the xxx shield out and move it around in a circle.
You suggest to the xxx shield that it might like to do this of its own accord.
The xxx shield begins to float around you.

Help Information:

Endorphin's Floating Friend - floats a shield in space.

Endorphin's Floating Friend is a first order defensive spell that should be cast on a shield to float it around you, defending you without you having to hold it. The difficulty of floating a shield is dependent on its weight, although once it is floating, it will stay there indefinitely unless it is dislodged.

Notes:

If you aren't holding the shield, the output is slightly different:

You prepare to cast Endorphin's Floating Friend on the xxx shield.
You rock the xxx shield gently with your foot.
You suggest how nice it is to fly to the xxx shield.
You suggest to the xxx shield that it might like to do this of its own accord.
The xxx shield begins to float around you.

Scrolls for Breakfast!

Well, Vasp is back, so we might be expecting some updating work at Spellcheck Project, undoubtedly one of the most useful sites on the net for everything related to spells. The new ones need to be added (and some old ones completed); some of the component information needs changing too. All interested wizards had better start sending logins there with the purpose of enhancing the usefulness of that wonderful page...

Yesterday was quite a nice day in the field of improving my magic skills. I've also changed the silver flute and violin for the carved bone aulos and the dark glossy lute. The new instruments are lighter, more beautiful (I'll post their descriptions one of these days) and have nicer, personalized feedbacks. Oh, and they also seem to taskmaster better too...

I've been trying to carry some research at the Bes Pelargic Wizard's Guild in the field on Magical Billiards, where (it seems) each different coloured ball requires a skillcheck and might allow for tms too. At the moment, I haven't received any, so the association between colours and magic skills is only a supposition, born out of the outputs; Elanor has discovered so far that the brown ball uses earth and the magenta ball conjuring.

I ignore what the tm range is with the balls. It seems that with less than 200 bonuses you will hardly be hitting the balls. The use of the staff is also skillchecked, and a failiure makes it fall off your hands.

Current suspicions of the skills used are as follows:

Beige > Earth
Pink > ? same/similar outputs to magenta ball. Conjuring, or another of the Spiritual branch
Grey > Air
Cyan > water
Purple > ? Ball behaves as a leaping frog. Perhaps one of the Physical branch? Enchanting?
Black > same as grey
Aqua > same as cyan
Orange > flames and/or sparks, Fire
Mauve > A dove appears (physical? Enchanting?)
Green > ? Physical branch. Binding [1]
Violet > same as purple
Blue > same as aqua
Red > ? sparks, Fire
Yellow > same as red

But as the heading indicates, this entry is specially devoted to the effects of eating scrolls. Some months ago, scrolls were subjected to a change. No longer would spells be easily written down on cigarette paper from then on, as it has become very hard to scribe on small papers (probably a skillcheck based on high scribing bonuses?). Another of the effected changes is funny and cosmetic: scrolls may be eaten, have curious flavours and generate some output lines and -in some cases-, a small amount of physical damage (around 300 hps), which seems to be capped and unrelated to the number of scrolls eaten (this was tested the very day the changes appeared; a group of wizards worked round the clock to make 100 scrolls for Vire to eat all at once, and the damage he received was the same you would get from eating 2 or 3 big spell-scrolls).

The outputs I've noted down so far ar as follows:

>eat scroll
You open your mouth up widely and pop the sheet of cheap writing paper into your mouth. After a moment's deliberation, you chew and consume the sheet of cheap writing paper.

Mmm! Awesome / Indescribably / Cinnamon / Sheep / Paper / Pencil / Kumquat / Blue ink / Pragi / String / Green ink /Chalk dust / Celery / Eyeball / Monkey / Love Heart / Sock flavoured! [2]

You feel something rather odd squirming in your stomach. It tastes... thaumaturgical. Something like hot metal and dusty paper and old, faded ink.

You turn an interesting shade of green. Then an interesting shade of lavender, then (in rapid succession) slightly less interesting shades of yellow and magenta. The brown and grey shades are downright boring.

You cough a few times, and a sad-looking frog hops out of your mouth and scuttles away.

You belch, filling the room with a strong scent of old dusty paper.

A wizened, bespectacled demon clambers out of your mouth and angrily berates you in some unknown language before storming off in a huff.

The air around you crackles and rustles.

You turn green, bend over abruptly, and heave up a sad-looking pile of twitching letters and eldritch glyphs, which steam and smoke for a moment before melting into a small puddle of foul-smelling liquid.

You sneeze violently.

You sneeze violently, with a revolting shower of inky amber/red/charcoal grey/green/lilac/fuchsia/dandelion yellow mucus.

A short string of magenta/lime green/silver/red/amber sparks erupts from your mouth.

A thin stream of black smoke trickles from your mouth.

Spiky, eldritch-looking letters seem to be trying to push their way out through your skin.

You cough a bit at the sudden assault of soot.
Your stomach rumbles ominously. After a few moments of calm, a gout of greasy black fire erupts messily from your mouth, leaving behind rather a lot of soot. Oh, and a certain amount of pain.

Your stomach settles down again, with a last greasy orangeish pink burp.

NOTES:

[1] Apparently, the green ball was the only one that co-player and young wizard Morituri could hit, and, being a Lodger and having his highest bonuses in the Physical field, specifically, in Binding, it looks probable that green might be behind that magic skill.

[2] There's many more flavours for sure. If you get any different from these, feel free to send them and post them here as comments.

Enchanting

Enchanting deals directly with the raw matter, so to speak, of magick as yt ys the changing of the magickal field of an object. Except yn the prefence of a sourceror, enchantment muft be conferved: for low power spells, such as Brother Happalon's Elementary Enchanting, the enchantment may be eckstracted from the naturally occurring fluctuations yn the background, while more powerful spells muft, yn esfence, tranffer enchantment from one object to another.

Books - Spelles of thee Oryent

A closed date encrusted grimoire is on the floor.

This is an old book, bound in camel skin. It is sticky with dates, as if someone read it at breakfast and dropped his date marmalade toast upside down on it.

Octarine sparks crackle intermittently down the spine.

2 - Al’Hrahaz’s Scintillating Blorpler
3 - Pragi’s Lost Gaze

Duander’s Thaumic Luminosity Disperser

What's it called? Duander’s Thaumic Luminosity Disperser (in short, DTLD)

What does it do? Duander's is the spell to use for the simple purpose of getting rid of magical lights. This mainly applies to the spammy blue one(s) invoked through Master Woddeley's Luminiscent Companion, although it probably works just as well with the colourful moths from the Agatean light spell, Union of the Phoenix and the Divine Dragon (and probably too, in the pk arena, as an extinguisher of other's magical lights).
Nowdays it is a toy spell, as its main real purpose (aside from taskmastering) was to avoid unfortunate deaths in fights against one's own light (a sad result of 'kill all'). Since the command 'shoo' is on the game, light dispersing has become an unnecessary, albeit very stylish, way of sending them away.

Where is it? As it fiddles with the fire-and-light properties, it is appropiately found in the Spelles of thee Arte of Fyre grimoire, at the Unseen University Library.

What does it require? Just a magical light (to disperse it)

What skills do I need? Chanting, Fire, Channeling, Banishing

Has it worked? A correct output should be something like this:

You prepare to cast Duander's Thaumic Luminosity Disperser on xxx (light)
You utter the chant of the flame.
You attempt to detect the living fire in the xxx.
You shut your eyes and think of a candle flame.
You visualise snuffing out the candle.xxx vanishes in a gout of green flame.

Help Information:

Duander's Thaumic Luminosity Disperser - Death to lights.

Duander's Thaumic Luminosity Disperser is a miscellaneous type spell that attempts to get rid of any magical lights at which it is targeted.

Dancing

Dancing ys a method similar to chanting yn many regards, confifting as yt does of the ufe of body-motion afpects of spell cafting. Many treatifes on witchcraft contain fafcinating accounts of rites involving thys skill to which the interefted reader ys directed.

Turning the Wheel

Yesterday was quite a busy day. After blorpling and visiting Dave the Necromancer (great equipment he has! Pity 'tis so damn heavy...) I've been cultivating my arts and crafts. Violin and flute are much more remiss these days to reward my playing with some expertise, but pottery compensates for their failiures...

So this is the last ginger jar I've shaped and use for holding purple mineral powder and a nice work too , if it isn't preposterous that I should say so myself):

This is one of the rooms that members may rent from the club. A wardrobe stands opposite the bed and a door leads out into the corridor.
There is one obvious exit: north.
A beautiful storm-cloud grey ginger jar is on the floor.

>look jar
Even small and day-to-day items can grab the imagination of the casual viewer. This beautiful ginger jar is such an incredible piece of work that it does just that. A refined umber and jade green portrayal of a revered kitsune fox adorns its surface, a magic jewel cradled between its five tails. It has been coated with a bright storm-cloud grey glaze.
It appears to have something written on it.
The beautiful storm-cloud grey ginger jar is almost empty with some purple mineral powder.
It is almost empty.

>read jar
You read the beautiful storm-cloud grey ginger jar:
Written in the clay in elegant script:
Winswand

Books - Advanced Arts and Sciences of the Cunning Artificer

A filigreed hardcover is on the floor.

This book is constructed completely from some form of hard wood. Its intricately filigreed and shows fanciful carved scrollwork throughout. The pages of this book are no exception to the rest of it, they too are seemingly carved from the same type of wood. It is bound with the highest quality octiron and its spine is adorned with a perfectly sculpted rowan wand.

An octarine snake slithers arond the rowan wand on the spine of this book.

2 - Thousand Dancing Celestial Fates

Dismal Digit of Doom

What's it called? Dismal Digit of Doom (in short, DDD)

What does it do? This spell allows you to send an anonymous and macabre message to someone of your choice. The message will be written for them by a dismal finger, that will afterwards drop back to its dead state.

Well, the message doesn't have to be macabre, really. But sending it through an undead finger is. Nice toy spell, but I'd use it more myself if it wasn't slightly unconvenient with the components, as I don't tend to carry chalk powder with me, except when I am casting the troll-skin. As for index-fingers, they are quite easy to come by with...

Where is it? Along with other body-fetching-and-disturbing spells that make the delights of the Order of Midnight, you may body-snatch this one out of the Ae Thouesand and Onne Thyngs ae Boye cann Do with Corpse Partes grimoire, in the Unseen University Library.

What does it require? just a pinch of chalk powder and an index finger. Both are 'consumed' (if you call it that...) in the process.

What skills do I need? Enchanting, Healing, Binding, Animating

Has it worked? A correct output of the spell should read as follows:

You prepare to cast Dismal Digit of Doom on xxx (Player target).
A voice says: No, you go left into the Street of Small Gods. Right would take you into Attic Bee Street [1].
You give your message to the finger.
You use the chalk dust to patch up the bleeding stump of the finger.
You bind a small amount of magic into the finger.
The finger quivers and shakes in your hand.
The finger crawls away through a small wormhole.

Help Information:

Dismal Digit of Doom - give a scare.

This spell allows you to send a finger to another person with a chilling message.

Notes: The syntax for the spell is a bit tricky. You have to type "cast Dismal Digit of Doom at xxx (target) with **************** (message)".

As for the receiving output, it is something like this:

A small wormhole suddenly opens four feet above the ground and a dismembered index finger crawls through it.

The finger straightens and begins pointing towards you.

It beckons.

The finger slowly begins to write, hovering in mid-air, leaving a softly glowing white trail.

The finger finishes its message and rapidly rots away, leaving only its fingernail behind.

Your eyes are drawn irresistibly to the softly glowing words hanging in the air.

A part of you realises that even though the ancient script is unfamiliar, you can absorb the meaning nonetheless:

xxxxx (the message)

[1] Optional, it seems. Might vary (depending on the target’s place when casting?).

Chanting

Chanting concerns the vocal afpects of spell cafting. Often more important for the attainment of a mood or feeling, yt can still have a profound occult effect on some types of creature.

Books - Divinational Arts

A closed origami tome is on the floor.

This book is made from tradition, Agatean origami. How someone was able to fold a single piece of rice paper into a book of this size, complete with seperate pages, we may never know. The face of this book is shinier than most books you've seen before. It calmly reflects your image subtly across the cover.

An octarine shimmer plays across this book slowly and hypnotically.

2 - Reckless Encouragement of Arcane Peacock

3 - A Cup of Tea and Sake

Crondor's Mysterious Sparkling

What’s it called? Crondor’s Mysterious Sparkling (in short, CMS)

What does it do? It's a toy spell that adds some (not many) spammy, 'wizardly' effects to your staff. Among those effects, the following lines are added to your staff description:

> Sparks of octarine light run across its surface

> It emits a slight octarine glow.

And like the zodiac charm, some lines will appear from time to time, like the following ones: "Lightning crackles over the tip of your xxx" "Raindrop grey / Ultramarine / Chocolate / Black smoke pours from the tip of your xxx" "The air around your xxx shimmers for a moment" "Your xxx momentarily shines in all the colours of a rainbow" "Your xxx emits a bright flash of light" "Your xxx sprouts a small clump of dandelions, which grow, flower, turn to a soft grey dandelion clock, and blow away" "A series of honey yellow sparks runs across your xxx" "Icicles grow from the tip of your xxx before melting and dripping away".

Where is it? Like its namesake, this Crondor spell can be found in the Intermediate Artifact Magic, fourth ed. volume, at the Unseen University Library.

What does it require? First, the focus of an octogram. Then, a staff (which is the intended object of beautification and spammyness) and an Ankhstone (consumed in the process).

What skills do I need? Staff, Whittling, Binding, Enchanting

Has it worked? A correct output of the spell should read as something like this:

You prepare to cast Crondor’s Mysterious Sparkling on the xxx staff.
You hold the xxx staff aloft above the centre of the octogram.
You form a small knife of pure magic and carve a setting from the ankhstone into your xxx staff’s interior.
You force the very essence of the ankhstone to merge with the xxx staff.
You empower the xxx staff to be able to contain the brilliance of the gem.
Octarine flames wash over the xxx staff.

Help Information:

Crondor's Mysterious Sparkling - Expresses the power of a wizard's staff.

Crondor's Mysterious Sparkling is a zeroth order miscellaneous spell which adds some wizardly effects to a staff.

Recharging

So, yesterday Winswand recharged an artifact for the first time. It seems that recharging, with the exceptions of wizards specifically tailored towards that field (Silver Stars?) doesn't get practiced much. Probably, it is our least-employed command. Also a mysterious one, as it is the only one whose requirements are, to the present, unknown. Some time ago there was a research underway to guess (I think it was quite successful, but I don't remember the result). The required level for getting Runes to teach you is probably in the field of magic.items, which are the ones that play on the recharging skillchecks.
The reasons why Recharge isn't employed as much as it should are, of course, self-evident, as it can be deadly dangerous in case of failures, and generally quite expensive, as the only recharging agent until now that works decently is purple mineral powder (recently, though, there's been some tweaking of the recharged Black Shells, so we should be doing some testing there one of these days... Up to now, they just didn't compensate any effort, or so profesional rechargers say).
It is easier, safer, and maybe even cheaper just to buy a new artifact and throw away the empty shell. Not very wizardly, though...
I won't go into details about the general aspects of Recharge, and the items it is used upon. For that, you may as well read the excellent material that's already on the web (like here and here...), but just stick my first (succesful!) recharging attemp on a blue crystal ring. As I only had 44 pinches of powder, I was only able to place 2 charges in it...

>You exclaim to Tempus Plavalaguna: ok... let's hope I don't explode... thanks a lot!

> You tell Trident: well, I am using it for the first time...

Tempus Plavalaguna tells you: balsa wands are deadly, blue rings just a bit- deadly, so only a bit dead.

>You say: okay, let us try not to burst...

Dwmmigh sings "Nooooobody knows, the troubles that I've seen...".

Dwmmigh sings "Sometimes I'm up... and sometimes I'm down...".

>You tell Tempus Plavalaguna: ummm... well, I am a bit more 'democratic' on that subject. Once dead, I won't care much if it was for much or for little...

[...]

>recharge blue crystal ring with 20 pinches of purple powder

The magic seems to drain away into the tiles.

You absorb the power of some purple mineral powder which crumbles into nothingness.

You feed the power into the blue crystal ring and charge it once before the power runs out.

Brewing

Brewing ys another method that tends not to be practifed by wyzards but ys moftly utilifed by wytches and apothecaries. Yt confifts of performing a magickal reaction on a micksture of subftances - as oppofed to a merely alchemical reaction - to obtain a magickal subftance or potion.

Books - Illusionary Arts

A closed shimmering grimoire is on the floor.

Phasing in and out of reality, this lost grimoire sits here calmly passing the time. Odd that it should change colours and transparency. Its spine is decorated with what seems to be an rice-paper dragon and its pages are guilded in platinum specks.

The rice-paper dragon exhales octarine fumes slowly but steadily.

2 - Union of the Phoenix and Divine Dragon
3 - Calm Embrace of Illusionary Beauty
4 - Cherry Blossoms in Bloom

Crondor’s Fabulous Detection

What’s it called? Crondor’s Fabulous Detection (in short, CFD)

What does it do? This is one of the spells (in fact, the first one) that you have to use when recharging an object. Well, you don’t really *need* it for the process, but knowing if the recharge is more or less safe is something important if you don’t like blowing up into pieces. Crondor’s Fabulous Detection will tell you through a colour code if it is safe to try to recharge a magical artifact. After you’ve succesfully cast the spell on it, it will glow in a certain colour. The colours are (from safest to most dangerous recharging) purple, green, red, blue, orange, pink, yellow, cyan, indigo, vermillion.

Where is it? You have to travel almost to the back of the Unseen University Library to pull it out of the unnamed Arts & Crafts volume which, from Spellcheck Project, we are led to believe it may be called Intermediate Artifact Magic, fourth ed.

What does it require? A staff and a gold ring (see below, note 2) which aren’t consumed. Also, evidently, a magical artifact on which to test the availability of it for safe recharging.

What skills do I need? Staff, Gold, Turning

Has it worked? A correct output of the spell should read as something like this:

You prepare to cast Crondor's Fabulous Detection on the xxx (magical artifact).
You tap your staff grandly on the floor, considering the strength and solidity of an ancient oak tree.
Concentrating on the solid strength of the gold ring, you compare it with the xxx.
You probe the magical power in the xxx by turning it over and over in your hand and your mind.
The xxx glows purple / green / red / blue / orange / pink / yellow / cyan / indigo / vermillion.

Help Information:

Crondor's Fabulous Detection - Evaluate artifact strength.

Crondor's Fabulous Detection is a first order miscellaneous spell which attempts to probe the strength of an artifact to discover if it can stand up to recharging.

Notes:

In the past, the first stage of this spell employed the skill crafts.points instead of Staff, and therefore, didn't require any component. Recent changes have eliminated this skill from all the spells that used it in the past (all of them ‘Silver Star' specialities). The output line for the first stage used to be also different:

You ponder the flexibility of wood and metals and all things arcane.

It seems paradoxical, from the wording of the second stage, that a gold ring isn’t required as a component too. As long as it isn’t consumed, it wouldn’t be much of a disturbance for wizards, who tend to carry lots of gold rings anyway, and this would be more in tune with the output.

Notes (2):

When I first included this spell, some time ago, I am pretty sure it only employed one component, which was a staff. The last lines I wrote in the note seem (as of today, 24th of February 2008, when I am adding this addenda) to have become true, as now the spellcheck does mention a 'gold ring' as a necessary component...

Binding

Binding involves the attaching of a magickal effect to an object. Thys ys ufed, for inftance, yn the manufacture of magickal weapons and armour: a wyzard might bind an effect to allow better night vifion ynto a helm or a better grip for climbing ynto a pair of gloves.

Magical Items - Zodiac Charms

We still haven't had the chance to talk about the spell Thousand Dancing Celestial Fates. Suffice it for now to know that the result of this spell is a magical artifact: the Zodiac Charm.

What's its use? I remember the comic confusion and vagueness ('an object of terrible power', 'a charm of incredible power') that described the properties of the charm both in the Help File and at Spellcheck Project. Only much later, when I made myself with one, did I start to discover things about it.

The first property of the charm is its beauty. Its description points it as a rich and seducing piece of jewellery:

> look charm

This is a magical charm. An artifact of mystical property, indeed! Octiron has been transmogrified into a strange, silverish-purple coloured, opaque glass or crystalline form, and shaped into a series of octagonal plates, linked together to form a bracelet. On the main plate, two beady eyes gaze curiously back at you with a greenish glow. The charm seems to shimmer iridescently as it reflects the ambient light. It's amazing how intricate the details are on this charm. It almost brims with the flames of sentient life. Circling the plates that form the charm's latch is a fine, spidery writing, which shimmies and shivers with subtle sparks. Perhaps this strange artifact has a use, or maybe it doesn't. Who knows? Who cares? It's shiny!

Sparks of octarine fly across the surface.

It has the hazy octarine sparkle of a magical talisman.

It appears to have something written on it.

It is in excellent condition.

The charm may be worn, and is in a perpetual state of mutation, as the animal it represents is constantly changing, but always among the 12 creatures that figure out in the Auriental Horoscope: snake, rooster, dragon, ox, horse, pig, rabbit, tiger, monkey, sheep, dog and rat. At the same time, the charm is quite a spammy piece of jewellery, which gives messages from time to time. Some of the ones I've collected are:

Violet ribbons of vapour rise from the eyes of your dragon/pig charm.
Red ribbons of vapour rise from the eyes of your dog charm.
Orange ribbons of vapour rise from the eyes of your horse/sheep charm.
Yellow ribbons of vapour rise from the eyes of your rat charm.
Orange/Green wisps of smoke pour from the mouth of your rooster charm.
Blue wisps of smoke pour from the mouth of your dragon/rat charm.
Indigo wisps of smoke pour from the mouth of your tiger/snake charm.
Yellow wisps of smoke pour from the mouth of your rabbit charm.
A tiny *roar* comes from your ox/rabbit charm.
A series of sparks dance across your sheep charm.
Smoke starts pouring from the mouth of your dragon charm and the smell of molten octiron wafts through the room.
Lightning crackles across the eyes of your tiger/horse charm.
Your rat/rabbit charm inhales its surroundings.
Your dog/rat charm exhales a bit of thaumic smoke.
Your horse charm glimmers from within.
Your rooster charm growls for all it's worth.
Your horse/ox charm emits a bright flash of colour.
Your monkey charm momentarily shines in all the colours of a rainbow.
Your sheep/monkey charm looks around with curiosity.
Your tiger charm taps you on the chest and smiles at you.
A small bolt of lightning shoots from your horse charm and chars a bit of ground

But its main use (at least, its 'magickal' use, which cannot reduce itself to 'being shiny') is as a stopper of fights and combats which you don't want to continue. To do so, one must 'gaze' at or into the charm. Automatically, the gazer will be transported into a fantasy land, and all the brawls in which he was in become suspended. The effect is quite similar to the one provocked by the spell Mugwuddle's Muddling Mirage, only that it works the other way round, trapping you in the place:

>gaze into charm

This is a fabulous land. A herd of green, nubile lemurs is flopping about on a purple swamp, while an indigo rock flops nearby.
It is a very weird nibblebing's aftermoon.
There are as many obvious exits as you could wish.
You are suddenly transported to a magical land.
You gaze into the eyes of your charm and the world suddenly grows hazy and turns upside down.

After a small amount of time, you will return to the 'real' world once again. The message changes into:

With a *POP*, reality reasserts itself.
You stand up.

You have to keep in mind that you can't 'make' the charm for yourself (like Gaelen says: 'You will, of course, have to cast this on someone else since you already know how charming you are), so you need somebody else to cast Thousand Dancing Celestial Fates for you if you're interested in the artifact. Afterwards, when you read it, you will find in it the name of the caster and he/she for whom it was cast:

>You read the pig charm:
Crafted by Tiak for Winswand.

One last thing: remember the charm is a very fragile thing, and shouldn't be worn while you're fighting; otherwise, it will deteriorate and break very soon.

Books - Heavenly Arts

A closed gemmed volume is on the floor.

A small, dancing lotus moves over the face of this majestic volume while lightning crackles along the spine and edges. A masterfully crafted book, it seems to almost dare you to open it. Gems line the spine of this tome and sparkle dangerously.

The dancing lotus leaves trails of octarine sparkles across the face of this volume as it moves.

2 - Journey of the Heavenly Storm Dragon

3 - Patient Taming of the Quantum Weather Butterfly

Collatrap’s Instant Pickling Stick

What’s it called? Collatrap’s Instant Pickling Stick (in short, CIPS)

What does it do? It creates a magical pickling stick that allows you to pickle body parts, fruits or vegetables, therefore preserving them for an indefinite period of time. It is specially useful for keeping many spell components (like eyes or carrots) from rotting while they await to be used in your component pouch.
The Pickling Sticks counts, for magical artifact effects, as a ‘wand’, and is generally quite a good improver of that skill.
Amongst its kith and kin (which are the easy, early spells found in the Gym), it is the most useful spell of all. I personally tend to carry it in my head most of the time.
Incidentally, the stick can be used as a weapon (albeit I wouldn’t recommend it…).

Where is it? You will have no problems to get it, as it it part of the spells that lie in the Begynners' Magick tome, at the Gyms of all the main Wizard Guilds of the Discworld.

What does it require? Like most early and/or beginner spells, no components whatsoever.

What skills do I need? Conjuring, Evoking, Wand, Dancing

Has it worked? A correct output of the spell should read as something like this:

You prepare to cast Collatrap's Instant Pickling Stick.
You sniff the air carefully.
You think about cured skins and pickled eyeballs.
You close your eyes and think of wands.
You spin slowly to the floor.
Suddenly, a small stick appears in your hands. It pulses with energy.

Help Information:

Collatrap's Instant Pickling Stick - stop things decaying.

Collatrap's Instant Pickling Stick conjures into reality an artifact which may be used to preserve corpse parts and other tissues against decay.

Cursing

Cursing ys the method ufed to affect the beliefs and other attributes - though ufually belief ys sufficient - of someone. Thys tends to be the province of wytches, whereas wyzards prefer being more direct.